F
i r s t L o o k

Delays in the Panavia Tornado F2 program and a general reduction in RAF units
resulted in the RAF acquiring 15 ex-US Navy and Marine Corps F-4Js to assist in
the air defence of the UK. These airframes were reworked in a 'Life Extension
Program' at the North Island, NAS, California. Modifications included RWR
antennas on the engine air intakes, low intensity formation lights and general
repainting.

All
15 aircraft were issued to the reformed 74 "Tiger" Squadron at RAF
Wattisham in September of 1984. These jets were equipped with standard USN (Not
RAF) Martin Baker Mk 7 ejection seats, which necessitated the crews using USN
G-suits and survival packs. They still wore RAF issue flightsuits and helmets
though.

The US Navy greys in which the aircraft were repainted were poor matches to
the British Standard colours, some being too blue and some too grey. Accordingly
they were quickly repainted in the UK with "real" British Colours.
Upper surfaces including the entire radome were painted in Barley Grey, BS
4800-18B-21 (sometimes called 'Flint Grey'. FS 36314) with the inner 2/3rds of
the upper wing surfaces (from fuselage to the wing fold point) painted Medium
Sea Grey, BS 381-C-637. (FS 36270).

The subject of these sheets are from the 28th Nato 'Tiger Meet' held at the
Cameri Airbase, Italy in July, 1988.

F-4J aircraft, British serial ZE-355/S attended this meet, but was originally
only painted in the standard british RAF Grey scheme and '74' Sqd. standard
black vertical tail plane. F-4Es from the 141st TFS, New Jersey ANG which were
attending for the first time, also arrived, but were resplendent with a huge,
dark grey tiger head painted on both sides of their noses. Not to be outdone,
the RAF crews obtained colour paint from the nearest town and devised the tiger
chomping on the soviet 'Red Star' as well as tiger stripes on the rudder, which
has remained one of the most colourful and striking schemes ever applied to an
F-4. Most of the RAF aircraft, were seen parked at the 'Tiger Meet' with wings
folded and their refueling probes extended.

Enough history - on with the review.

As stated, the main subject of this sheet is F-4J, serial ZE-355, tail code
'S' of 74 'Tiger' Sqdn. The two tiger head nose markings 'chomping' on the red
star, yellow tail plane striping, serials for 9 aircraft, low-vis British
markings and ejection seat/rescue indicators, low intensity formation lights and
a selection of 10 pilot/navigator canopy names are all supplied.

9 individual tail plane code letters are supplied, T,I,G,E,R,S,Q,N in either
black for the standard aircraft schemes, or yellow outline for the black
tailplane aircraft.

Nose wheel well door identification letters are also supplied. A piece of
striped decal is also supplied for the nose airconditioning duct which will
require a touch of yellow paint on the upper surface to blend things in. A nice
touch is additional pilot helmet striping as well as a small square of yellow
and black decal to help in those places where you stuff things up.

All my sample decals were nicely in register and well printed. Decal film is
minimal and they appear very thin.

Care will be needed with the nose markings as they are very fine. There
should not be any trouble with them conforming to the surface detail with a
little decal solution.

A good reference source is Verlinden Publications 'Lock On' No.10 on the
British Phantoms F-4J / FGR.1 & FGR.2. No photos of the 'Tiger Meet'
aircraft, but excellent photos of the standard squadron aircraft at Wattisham.

Conclusion

This is another excellent release from Yellowhammer Decals which comes
unreservedly recommended.

The RAF Phantom is a great subject with a good selection of aircraft that can
be modelled. If you do not fancy the 'Tiger Meet' aircraft, a standard squadron
aircraft is also an excellent choice. It will make a refreshing change from the
standard "Showtime 100" that you seem to see at all the model
competitions. Now, where is that Hasegawa F-4J that is tucked away in the model
cupboard?

Many thanks to Brett for passing these decals on to me for review, and a big
thank you to Meteor Productions for the review sample.